Fiona Pepper

They try to clean up the lab, get rid of this thing that they'd made the day before.

So they put it in the sink.

And they can't, for the life of them, wash it down the sink.

Doesn't matter what solvent they pour over this globulous thing that they'd made, it just wouldn't break down.

So they just end up clogging up their sink in their lap.

I think so.

I mean, it stinks, it's hard and they can't get rid of it.

But, you know, rather than being like, oh, we just want to tidy up the lab and we just, oh, this is an inconvenience.

They realise this thing that they've created is resistant to solvents and that's really significant because most experimental by-products dissolve or degrade and this one doesn't.

which was combining the Greek words, sulfur and glue.

Yeah.

So America relied basically solely on British controlled Southeast Asian plantations.

So coming up with a synthetic form of rubber was really significant, particularly when everyone wanted to own a car.

The main early use for this rubber that Thiokol came up with was for gaskets, for sealants, coatings and adhesives, that kind of thing.

But basically any application where solvent resistance and weather resistance was really important.

Yes, it really stunk.

Rotten eggs is the main description that I've come across.

Exactly.

It stunk so much that locals complained about this horrible odour when it was being manufactured in Kansas City, which actually meant that they had to relocate to New Jersey to a kind of rubber industrial area where they could kind of stink the place out and no one cared.

So, yeah, the smell was significant.